Restrictions on cinema licenses imposed by State are reasonable under public interest, affirming legislative authority without necessitating prior rules.

1. This petition and eight other petitions Nos. 72, 73 and 77 to 81 and 87, all of 1960 are directed against the following order, passed by the Additional District Magistrate, Lucknow, ordering thereby to include certain additional conditions in the licences for cinematograph exhibitions which have been granted to the various petitioners : -
"The following additional conditions have been imposed in the Cinematograph Licence by the Government. The local exhibitors are hereby directed to. comply with them strictly with effect from April 1, 1960 :
(1) That not more than three shows should be held between 3 p.m. and 12-30 a.m. on any working day. No show to be held before 33 p.m. or after 12-30 a.m. without the specific permission of the Licensing Authority to be taken in advance.
(2) There should be no restriction on the number of shows held on Sundays and holidays provided that the last show does not extend beyond 12-30 a.m.
(3) No person below 18 years of age should be allowed admission in cinema shows held at any time before 4 p.m. on working days. (This restriction shall not apply on holidays. Holidays would mean holidays inducting vacations observed by educational institutions).
(4) In the late night shows, juveniles below 14 years of age should not be allowed admission unless they are accompanied by their guardians."
All the petitioners happen to be cinematograph exhibitors at Lucknow. The order has been made - a fact about which there is no dispute - in pursuance of the direction referred to therein issued by the State Government in the purported exercise of the power vested under Sub-Section (2) of S.5 of the U.P. Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1955 (U.P. Act No. III of 1956).

2. Two consequences have followed by the addition, of the above conditions in the licences. According to one no person below the age of eighteen years can be admitted on a working day to a show before 4 p.m.; this restriction will not be applicable on holidays. According to the other, juveniles below 14 years of age will not be allowed admission in the late night shows unless they are accompanied by their guardians. Some minor restrictions also are as regards the number of shows which may be given on any working day and also that no show shall continue beyond 12-30 a.m. in the night.

3. The petitioner claims that the restrictions contained in the above conditions are per se unreasonable; they are not in the interest of the general public also. He is accordingly attacking their validity on the ground that they infringe the fundamental right guaranteed to him by sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of Art.19 of the Constitution, He is further impugning them by pointing out that sub-sec, (2) of S.5 failed to authorise the licensing authority or the State Government to impose the same. He is, therefore, asking the order of the licensing authority, by which the said conditions have been added in his licence to be quashed. He is further attacking them because in his opinion they contravened Art.14 of the Constitution.

4. It will be worthwhile to refer at the very outset to certain provisions of the U.P. Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to in this judgment as the State Act). This was enacted by the State Legislature in 1955 and became applicable to the State on the 23rd of January, 1956. The provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1918 (hereinafter referred to as the Central Act) which was the existing law rill that date were repealed by S.12 of this Act in so far as they related to matters other than the sanctioning : of the cinematograph films for exhibition. Since the controversy here is not